Human Trafficking and Migrant Prostitution in Europe

Home , Prostitution in Europe, Prostitution in Italy

FACULTY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Human Trafficking and Migrant Prostitution in Europe:

A Qualitative study of Nigerian Female Sex Workers in Italy

Nankobe Vitalis Mbah

International Migration and Ethnic Relations Bachelor 15 credits Spring 2018 Supervisor: Nahikari Irastorza Word Count: 10.972 Abstract Trafficking for prostitution (TFP) is an international problem that increasingly affects industrialized countries and Italy is not immune to TFP. From time immemorial, thousands of migrant women have been trafficked to Italy for prostitution. However, in recent years, the Italian government has taken drastic measures to combat irregular migration and trafficking for prostitution. This study investigates the motivations for Nigerian women who end up working as sex workers to migrate to Italy. In addition, this study also investigates whether Nigerian sex workers in Italy are victims of human trafficking as depicted by the media and anti-trafficking organizations. The study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with Nigerian sex workers in the city of Turin, Italy. Unemployment, high income, poverty, family assistance, joining family and friends, and the quest for quick money were identified as the main motivations for migration to Italy. In addition, this study also revealed that while the majority of Nigerian sex workers interviewed in this study were victims of human trafficking, a few were not.

Keywords: Prostitution, Human Trafficking, Nigerian Women, Sex Workers, Italy.

Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………. 2 Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………….. 3 List of Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………. 5 1 Introduction.…………………………………………………………………………. 6 1.1 Research Background…………………………………………………………... 6 1.2 Research problem………………………………………………………………. 7 1.3 Aim and Research Question…………………………………………………… 8 1.4 Motivation……………………………………………………………………... 8 1.5 Delimitations and Limitations…………………………………………………. 9 1.6 Thesis Outline……………………………………………………………….... 10 2 Literature Review…………………………………………………………………... 10 2.1 Reasons for Migration…………………………………………………………. 11 2.2 Trafficking……………………………………………………………………... 11 3 Theoretical Framework.…………………………………………………………….. 14 3.1 Push-Pull Theory………………………………………………………………. 14 3.2 Network Theory………………………………………………………………... 14 3.3 Human Trafficking……………………………………………………………... 15 3.4 “Prostitution” vs. “Sex work”.……………………………………...... 16 4 Method………………………………………………………………………………. 16 4.1 Semi-Structured Interviews……………………………………………………. 16 4.2 Pre-data Collection: Interview Planning……………………………………... 17 4.3 Primary Data Collection Process…………………………………………………... 18 4.3.1 Interview Questions………………………………………………………. 18 4.3.2 Research participants and Ethics.………………………………………... 19 4.3.3 Researcher’s Positionality.……………………………………………… 20 4.3.4 Via Nizza and Corso Francia.…………………………………………… 21 4. 3.5 Material.………………………………………………………………… 22 4.4 A Constructivist Approach………………………………………………………… 22 4.5 Method Limitations………………………………………………………………... 23 4.6 Validity and Reliability……………………………………………………………. 23

5 Results and Analysis………………………………………………………………….. 24 5.1 Motivations for Migration………………………………………………...... 24 5.1.1 Poverty & the Desire to Assist Family.……………………………………. 26 5.1.2 Unemployment & Employment. …………………………………………... 27 5.1.3 Low-Income & High Income……………………………………………… 27 5.1.4 Quick Money………………………………………………………………. 28 5.1.5 Joining Family& Friends…………………………………………………... 29 5.2 Trafficked Victims or Voluntary Sex Workers? ……………………………………... 30 5.2.1 Unplanned Prostitution………………………………………………………... 30 5.2.2 Planned Prostitution………………………………………………………….... 32 6 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………. 33 6.1 Concluding Remarks………………………………………………………………. 33 6.2 Suggestions for Further Research…………………………………………………. 35 7 Reference List………………………………………………………………………….... 36 8 Appendix……………………………………………………………………………….... 40 8.1 Interview Guide Questions for Nigerian Sex Workers……………………………... 40 8.2 Transcription of Recorded Interviews from Via Nizza and Corso Francia………... 42 8.3 Image 1: Map of Nigeria……………………………………………………………. 71

List of Abbreviations

UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees IOM International Organization for Migration EU European Union 1SS International Institute of Social Studies UNICRI United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice- Research Institute IMER International Migration and Ethnic Relations UN United Nations UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Vs. Versus TFP Trafficking for Prostitution & And

1 Introduction This section of this paper provides a brief background on the topic of this investigation, followed by the formulated research problem, aim and research questions, motivation, delimitations and limitations and the outline of this paper.

1.1 Research Background The Federal Republic of Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with a population of about 186 million in 2016, according to figures from the World Bank. Nigeria is also Africa’s largest economy thanks to its oil revenues. In addition, the country is also one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Despite the country’s riches and its growing economy, wealth disparity is significant, and most citizens of Nigeria live in abject poverty. This is one of the main reasons why Nigerians leave their country and Italy is one of the prime destinations for them. A report published by Oxfam in May, 2017, shows that more than 112 million Nigerians are living in poverty (Oxfam, 2017), which is about 60% of the country’s population. In contrast, figures published by the Italian National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT) in July 2017 show that 7.9 % Italians were living in poverty in 2016 (ISTAT, 2017). Italy receives irregular migrants by boat from different countries such as Eritrea, Syria, Morocco, Iraq, and Somali. However, Nigerians represent the top nationality of irregular migrants entering Italy by boat from North Africa. According to UNHCR, out of 172, 000 irregular migrants that entered Italy by boat from North Africa in 2017, over 18, 000 were Nigerians (UNHCR, 2018). Poverty coupled with poor labor market conditions, ethnic conflicts and numerous attacks from Boko Haram are some of the major reasons why a lot of Nigerians emigrate from Nigeria to Italy. Most Nigerian women entering Italy irregularly by boat from North Africa often end up as sex workers or prostitutes on the streets of Italy. In 2017, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), argued that about 80% of the 11,009 Nigerian women who entered Italy irregularly by boat in 2016 will go on to live a life of forced prostitution (Kelly, 2017). Although voluntary and trafficked migration for sex work between Nigeria and Italy has existed for over three decades, there has been an increase in recent years, in the number of Nigerian women working as sex workers in Italy (Ibid). Some scholars argue that the Italian law on

6 prostitution is one of the main reasons why Italy remains a prime destination for migrant sex workers. Under the Italian constitution, prostitution defined as the exchange of sex for money is legal. The law permits women to sell sex, However, organized prostitution or the exploitation of prostitutes is prohibited (Tamsin, 2003). In recent years, the Italian law on prostitution has received a lot of criticism from anti-prostitution and anti-trafficking organizations in Italy and abroad. For instance, anti-trafficking organizations in Italy such as ‘On The Road Onlus’ argue that the Italian law on prostitution frustrates anti-trafficking strategies and encourages human trafficking.

1.2 Research problem When prostitution is placed in the context of migration, the discussion is often linked to the concept of human trafficking. Female migrant sex workers in many industrialized countries today are depicted as victims of human trafficking by the mass media and anti-trafficking organizations. For instance, Nigerian women working as sex workers in Italy are often depicted by the media and anti-trafficking organizations as victims of human trafficking. These women are portrayed as victims of exploitation from the hands of criminal trafficking and smuggling networks. But surprisingly, very little research has been conducted in English to demonstrate that they are victims of trafficking. Nigerians and other migrant sex workers in Italy are rarely portrayed as migrants who made the decision to travel to Italy on their own for prostitution by the media and anti-trafficking organizations. In response to this narrative that migrant sex workers in Italy are victims of human trafficking, the Italian government has implemented tougher policies to stop irregular migration to Italy and to fight against human trafficking and smuggling networks. As an example, Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian prime minister created a law known as ‘the security package’ in 2009 to target irregular migrants. The law criminalized irregular migration in Italy with a prison term of up to 5 years (Triandafyllidou, 2010, p. 179). Secondly, the Italian government also created a quota scheme were Italian employers could hire non-EU nationals that were living outside Italy and the EU. This scheme was meant to dissuade non-EU nationals from using tiny fishing boats to travel to Italy irregularly. Likewise, the Italian government has taken several steps to combat human trafficking for prostitution. For instance, in 1958 Italy criminalized the exploitation of others for prostitution

and ordered for the closure of brothels. And in 2014, Italy implemented the 2011 EU directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (EUCPN, 2014). Despite all these measures taken by the Italian authorities to tackle irregular migration and human trafficking, thousands of migrant women continue to travel to Italy irregularly and thousands of them end up working as sex workers in Italy. The majority of these migrant women are from Nigeria (Leah, 2017), the question is why do so many Nigerian women migrate to Italy and why do most of them end up working as sex workers?

1.3 Aim and Research Questions The aim of this study is twofold. First, to get an in-depth understanding of the motivations for Nigerian women who end up working as sex workers to migrate to Italy. Second, to investigate whether these women are victims of human trafficking as depicted by the media and anti- trafficking organizations. John W. Creswell explains that the research question should be a broad attempt for exploring the central phenomenon or concept in a study (2009:129). The formulated research questions through which the topic of this study will be investigated are:

1. What are the motivations for Nigerian women who end up working as sex workers to migrate to Italy? 2. Are these Nigerian sex workers in Italy, victims of human trafficking as depicted by the media and anti-trafficking organizations?

1.4 Motivation During my summer 2017 vacation in Italy, I noticed that most streets in big cities such as Milan, Rome, and Turin were filled with female migrant sex workers from African countries like Morocco and Nigeria. The migrant sex workers are often portrayed by the media and anti- trafficking organizations as victims of human trafficking without much research done to establish whether these migrant sex workers are victims of trafficking or not. When I first came in contact with these migrant sex workers on the streets of Milan, the two questions that came to my mind were: (1) why did these women move to Italy? (2) Are they trafficked humans or voluntary sex workers?

I asked these questions repeatedly to myself and the questions motivated me to conduct this study. Hence, I decided to carry out this investigation because I thought it would be interesting to find out the motives for migration for female migrants working as sex workers in Italy. Additionally, I was motivated to conduct this study because I wanted to know whether all migrant women working as sex workers in Italy are victims of human trafficking as the media and anti-trafficking organizations often make us to believe. My interest on this topic motivated me to use part of my vacation in Italy to conduct interviews with Nigerian women working as sex workers in preparation for my IMER-bachelor thesis. I decided to conduct this research, focusing on Nigerian female sex workers in Italy because I am from the English part of Cameroon and we speak the same languages with Nigeria such as English and Pidgin-English. In addition, we have a similar culture and political system. As explained by Tim May, understanding the language and culture of what is being investigated is an important factor in social science (2011: 264). My hope of doing this investigation is to obtain objective information that would be useful to different stakeholders to critically assess and adjust policies that address migration, prostitution, and human trafficking. Additionally, I believe that this study will act as a source of information for other researchers who are interested in migrant prostitution in Italy.

1.5 Delimitations and Limitations Due to time constraints and to narrow the scope of this study, the study only focused on one particular group of female migrant sex workers in Italy, that is, Nigerian female sex workers. The study is not interested in other groups of migrant sex workers in Italy such as Moroccans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, and Romanians. I am aware that the findings from one particular group of migrant sex workers are not a representative sample for an entire group of migrant sex workers in Italy. However, this study can be considered as a pilot study to a broader study on migrant prostitution and trafficking in Italy. I also narrowed the scope of this study by interviewing only Nigerian sex workers in the city of Turin, Italy. Furthermore, while there are other Nigerian sex workers in other major cities in Italy such as Milan, Napoli, and Rome, due to limited financial resources, I decided to focus only on Nigerian sex workers in Turin. Another limitation of this study could be the number of interviewees interviewed. Initially, I wanted to interview about 30 to 40 Nigerian sex workers in order to get a

9 better picture of their situation. However, I ended up interviewing only 15 sex workers due to time constraints. While the small number of Nigerian sex workers interviewed in this study could affect the reliability of this study, the findings are in line with previous studies.

1.6 Thesis Outline This paper is structured as follows. Firstly, a literature review of previous studies on Nigerian sex workers in Italy is presented in section 2. Thereafter a theoretical framework is presented in section 3. Section 4 is on the method used in this study, followed by a discussion on the research validity and reliability. The method section is divided into different parts such as pre-data collection and data collection process. Next, section 5 is the results and analysis. Selected data from the interviews with Nigerian sex workers in Italy are presented and analyzed. Section 6, the final section of this study sumps up the study and suggests ideas for further research.

2 Literature Review After examining previous studies on migrant prostitution and trafficking in Italy, I realized that most previous studies on this topic focused on ‘migrant’ sex workers in Italy rather than focusing on a particular group of migrants (For example, Capani, 2000; D’Antuona, Carla, Andalo and De Tommasso, 2001; Campani, 2009; Zermiani et al., 2010). These studies focused on the working conditions of female migrant sex workers in Italy, the trafficking of migrant women to Italy for prostitution, and the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases among migrant sex workers in Italy. On the other hand, only a limited number of studies have been conducted in English that focused on Nigerian female sex workers in Italy (For instance, Baye, 2012: UNICRI, 2010: Achebe, 2004). However, there is a lot of information available in English on the internet about Nigerian female sex workers in Italy. Moreover, very few studies have been conducted on the reasons why Nigerians migrate to other countries (see, for example, IOM, 2017: Antwi & Nahanga, 2014). An in-depth discussion of some of these studies would help provide an understanding of the context that this study examines. The literature is reviewed under the two

following themes in connection to my research questions: “reasons for migration” and “trafficking”.

2.1 Reasons for Migration A study conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), looked at the reasons why Nigerians migrate to Europe. The results of the study showed that Nigerian nationals have many complex reasons for leaving Nigeria. The study showed that Nigerians emigrate from Nigeria because of (1) Escalating tensions between Muslims and Christians. (2) Ethnic conflicts and conflicts related to family and marriage. (3) Lack of livelihood opportunities (IOM, 2017: 19). In addition, the study also found that Nigerians emigrate from Nigeria because of religious obligation, political violence, resource struggles and the rise of Boko Haram (Ibid). On the other hand, the study found that Nigerians migrate into Europe because of the success stories that they hear about fellow Nigerians who had migrated to Europe. In addition, Nigerian migrant networks in Europe influences the decision to migrate and facilitate migration for potential Nigerian migrants in Nigeria (IOM, 2017:19-20). Another study conducted by Antwi and Nahanga in 2014 examines the determinants of International Migration for Nigerian citizens in Nigeria. Their findings showed that high unemployment in Nigeria, migrants’ remittances, and high population growth are the main reasons why Nigerians emigrate from Nigeria to other countries (Antwi & Nahanga, 2014:325- 326).

2.2 Trafficking A study conducted by Eneze Modupe-Oluwa Baye at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) focused on analyzing counter-trafficking measures in Italy in relation to Nigerian sex workers in Italy (Baye, 2012). The main aim of his study was to analyze the experiences of Nigerian sex workers in Italy in relation to the Italian law on trafficking and social protection policy for victims (Baye, 2012: 4). Baye explains that the experiences of Nigerian sex workers in Italy are complicated and diverse. According to him, most Nigerian sex workers in Italy are undocumented, which makes them to be highly vulnerable. To study the phenomenon, Baye used a qualitative approach, observation, and interviews as his method of collecting data for his study (2012:4-5). The findings of his study showed that

Nigerian sex workers in Italy are exploited and the majority of the exploited undocumented sex workers apply for political asylum in Italy. And, while their application for asylum is being processed by the Italian authorities, they remain victims of exploitation to their traffickers. Additionally, Baye’s study also found that even though the Italian social protection program has been beneficial to some of the fortunate beneficiaries, it still does not fully address the insecurities that Nigerian sex workers experience in Italy. Finally, Baye stated that one of the shortcomings of Article 18 of the Italian Social Protection Program is that it only protects trafficked victims that suffered severe forms of violence and if the information provided by the victims can lead to the arrest of their traffickers (2012: 17-18). He argued that this has led to the exclusion of some of the Nigerian sex workers in Italy because they are either unable to show that they have suffered severe violence or provide information that will lead to the arrest of their traffickers (Ibid). Another study conducted by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) in 2010, focused on the trafficking of Nigerian underage girls to Italy for commercial sexual exploitation (UNICRI, 2010). The study had a threefold objective. (1) The study wanted to get a full picture of the quantitative and qualitative features of the trafficking of Nigerian underage girls to Italy for commercial sexual exploitation (UNICRI, 2010: 15). (2) The study wanted to know how these young girls manage to free themselves from their traffickers and how major actors such as the police, local authorities and territorial services engaged in the fight against human trafficking in Italy (Ibid). (3) The last objective of UNICRI’s study was to understand the internal dynamics of social services, from those engaged in the first contacts to those that deal with rehabilitation and reintegration. And, to highlight problems that social service providers face when they take Nigerian underage girls that are victims of human trafficking under their care (Ibid). In terms of methodology and design, UNICRI used both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The methods used to gather data for the study were analysis of available documentation on the topic, interviews, and observation (UNICRI, 2010:16-17). The study revealed that the attribution of minority age to the Nigerian girls may be as a result of data manipulation instigated by the traffickers because minors have a higher value in the prostitution market (UNICRI, 2010: 101). In addition, the study also revealed that the minority status of these young Nigerian girls makes them to be more vulnerable and more liable to mystic-religious

manipulation (Ibid). Lastly, the study also found that at a certain level, the Italian system of social protection has helped underage Nigerian girls to free themselves from forced prostitution in Italy. Moving on to a more narrowed study on the topic of Nigerian sex workers in Italy, Nwando Achebe (2004) conducted a case study on the trafficking of Nigerian sex workers to Italy. He investigated a complex network of relationships that are in place to take Nigerian sex workers to Italy (Achebe, 2004:181). According to Achebe, several actors are part of this network. The first actor is the traffickers who are usually citizens of Nigeria living permanently in Italy. He argued that the traffickers provide financial resources to facilitate the Nigerian sex worker’s travel to Italy. Achebe explains that these traffickers usually have connections with employees at the embassy, which makes it easier for them to obtain valid travel documents for the Nigerian sex workers to use and travel to Italy (Ibid). Furthermore, Achebe argued that a network of corrupt border control officers from several neighboring West African countries such as Ghana and Ivory Coast are also part of this conspiracy because they provide travel documents that allow Nigerian sex workers to use their countries as transit. As Achebe explains, it is through these transit states that the Nigerian sex workers continue their journey to Italy by air or land (2004:181). Moreover, Achebe’s study also revealed that the travel documents obtained by the traffickers are recycled many times over so that potential Nigerian sex workers can use the same travel documents to travel to Italy for prostitution. Achebe noted that once the Nigerian Sex workers arrive Italy, the travel documents are collected from them and the women start working as prostitutes to repay large amounts of money to their traffickers for sponsoring them to Italy. There are three ways in which this study will contribute to the literature. First, this study will add to the limited number of studies available in English on Nigerian sex workers in Italy. Second, this study will add to the limited number of studies that have been conducted on the reasons why Nigerians emigrate from Nigeria to other countries. Third, this study attempts to find out whether Nigerian sex worker in Italy are actually victims of human trafficking, something that was not emphasized in existing literature on Nigerian sex workers in Italy. The difference between this study and existing literature on why Nigerians migrate to other countries is that this study focusses on individual experiences rather than generalizations in order to capture the reasons for migration.

3 Theoretical Framework This section starts with a presentation of two theories that I used to interpret the findings of this study. The two theories are “the push-pull theory of migration” and “network theory”. Both theories were constructed from the data: hence an inductive approach. Silverman recommends that as researchers, we should try to use concepts and theories that are closely related to our discipline (2006: 6). Therefore, the two theories are appropriate for this study because they are often used in the field of International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER). After presenting both theories, two key concepts of this study, “prostitution” and “human trafficking”, will be discussed.

3.1 Push-Pull theory This investigation seeks to understand the motivations for Nigerian women who end up working as sex workers to migrate to Italy through the lens of Push-Pull theory. The push-pull theory of migration is a theory that explains the different reasons why people choose to migrate or move from one place to another. The push factors are those factors that force people to move out of their place of origin or a sending country such as drought, famine, conflict, religious intolerance, low wages, and unemployment. On the other hand, the pull factors are those factors that attract people to move into a receiving or destination country such as employment, political stability, high wages, freedom, and high standards of living. According to the push-pull theory, migration occurs as a result of a combination of push and pull factors. I applied the push-pull theory to this study by looking at the push factors forcing thousands of Nigerian sex workers to emigrate from Nigeria and the pull factors attracting them to immigrate to Italy. As Russel King explains, migration is very diverse and have many sides and cannot be explained in a single theory (2012:11). Therefore, I had to look for other theories from my interview data like the Network theory to complement the push-pull theory.

3.2 Network theory Migration network theory is a meso-level theory that explains the causes of migration and the reasons why these movements perpetuate. Migrant networks are interpersonal ties that link migrants, former migrants, and non-migrants in origin and destination countries through ties of

friendship, kinship, or a common origin (Massey et al., 1993:448). Migrant networks tend to facilitate further migration because they lower the costs and risks associated with subsequent migration for friends and relatives, which motivates some of them to migrate. This expands the set of people with ties abroad and reduces the costs of migration for a new set of people, which expands the network and so on. Over time, migratory behavior spreads outward to encompass a broader section of the sending country (Massey et al., 2008:46). Migrant networks can be seen as a form of social capital that people can use to migrate or gain access to foreign employment (Ibid). I applied the migrant network theory to this study by looking at the connections that sex workers had with other Nigerian migrants in Italy prior to their departure to Italy and how these connections facilitated the movement of these sex workers to Italy.

3.3 Human Trafficking Article 3 of the UN convention on the trafficking of persons defines human trafficking as “the unlawful movement of persons from one place to another by means of force, threat, coercion, abduction, fraud or deception or giving or receiving payments for one person to have control over another for the purpose of exploitation such as the exploitation of the prostitution of others, other forms of sexual exploitation, slavery, forced labor, the removal of organs and practices similar to slavery” (UNODC, 2018). It is this definition that I will use throughout this paper to talk about human trafficking with a particular focus on sexual exploitation. The UN definition of human trafficking above looked at how women are taken forcefully or through deception from their place of residence to a different environment or a different country and forced to do prostitution against their will. The question is why would such a practice continue when the UN has made it unlawful? The answer lies in the imbalance and differences among states which affect citizens. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is trying to address this problem of differences among states by helping states to draft anti- trafficking laws, create anti-trafficking strategies and also assist them with resources to implement these measures (Ibid). Additionally, I will use the UN definition of trafficking above in my analysis to assess whether the Nigerian sex workers interviewed for this study are victims of human trafficking.

3.4 “Prostitution” vs. “Sex Work” Literature review has shown me that there are two rival camps when it comes to the term used in describing what is normally known as prostitution. One camp argues that prostitution is bad and should be banned while the other camp wants to legalize or decriminalize it (Kristof, 2006). This translates into the question of whether one should refer to ‘prostitutes’ or ‘sex workers’. Prostitution is defined as the exchange of sexual services for money. The term sex work is used to recast people selling sexual services as workers. Those who want to rebrand prostitution as sex work argue that the terms “sex work” and “sex workers” recognize that sex work is work and many people who sell sexual services prefer to be referred to as “sex workers” because they see the term “prostitutes” as demeaning and stigmatizing (Open Society Foundations, 2017). During my fieldwork, I used the terms “sex work” and “sex workers” because I didn’t want to make any of the participants to feel offended or insulted with the term “prostitute” or “prostitution”. Moreover, most of the women that I interviewed referred to themselves as “workers”, which translate to the fact that they preferred to be called sex workers than prostitutes. It is beyond the scope of this study to engage in a deeper discussion on prostitution and sex work. Throughout this paper, the word sex worker is used interchangeably with prostitute because I believe that both words have the same meaning. Prostitutes or sex workers are people who exchange sexual services for money or goods.

4 Method This section presents the choice of method and material used for this study. In addition, this section also describes the process used in collecting data. The method used to conduct this study is semi-structured interviews. The interview method is in line with previous studies conducted on the topic of this investigation, as can be seen in the literature review section.

4.1 Semi-Structured Interviews As already mentioned, this study is a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews. I decided to use semi-structured interviews as the method of this study for several reasons. First, conducting semi-structured interview suits the topic of this investigation because it provides us

with an in-depth understanding of the experiences of Nigerian sex workers in Italy. Second, another major strength for using semi-structured interviews in this study is the fact that it allows the interviewer to seek both clarification and elaboration on the answers provided by the interviewees. Thus, allowing the interviewer to record quality information about the topic of the investigation (May, 2001:123). Moreover, I decided to conduct this study using semi-structured interviews because the method enables the interviewer to probe beyond the answers provided by the interviewee, thus allowing the interviewer and the interviewee to enter into a dialogue (Ibid). Compared to standardized interviews, semi-structured interviews allow interviewees to answer more on their own terms. Besides, semi-structured interviews suited the time-pressure during my fieldwork as most of the sex workers were under time-pressure because the interviews took place during working hours. The interviews only included the most important questions, but the informants were allowed to elaborate on their answers whenever they wished.

4.2 Pre-data Collection: Interview Planning. After developing interest in the topic of this investigation during my vacation in Italy, I approached my Nigerian friend called Mr. Emeka. He is very popular among Nigerians in Turin because he is the president of the Nigerian Association in Turin. I informed Emeka about my project and I asked for his assistance to interview Nigerian sex workers in Turin. He took me to the apartments of some of the Nigerian sex workers in “Mirafiori” a neighborhood of Turin. During my encounter with these women, I explained my project to them and I told them why I wanted to interview them. I told the women that I am a student in Malmö University and that I will be writing my thesis on migrant sex workers in Italy and my main focus will be on Nigerian female sex workers. To gain their trust, I showed them my student Id from Malmö University and I told them that I was from Cameroon, Nigeria’s neighbor. Additionally, I informed them that the interviews would be conducted in pidgin-English. The women I spoke to, with the help of my friend Emeka agreed to be interviewed. However, the women preferred to be interviewed in their place of work during working hours. Their argument was that when they are not on duty, they sleep in order to rest and they don’t like to be disturbed during resting hours. We agreed that the women will be interviewed during working hours in their place of work, which in this case was on the streets of

Turin. I was happy with this arrangement because I knew that it would provide additional observational data, which is a major strength because it would help me to better understand the information provided by the sex workers in connection to the surrounding. Likewise, I informed the women that the interviews would be recorded to ensure that I get the right data needed for the investigation. Emeka and I also assured the sex workers that their names and personal information would be kept confidential. Finally, we agreed with the sex workers working day shift that the best time to conduct the interviews is between 10 am to 3 pm because there are not so many clients available for them during these hours.

4.3 Primary Data Collection Process The primary data for this study consist of observational data and transcribed interviews. The primary data was collected through observation and semi-structured interviews with Nigerian sex workers in Turin, Italy. The study had the privilege to be supported by my good friend Mr. Emeka, the president of the Nigerian Association, throughout the data collection process. Without him, it would have been very difficult for me to get access to the Nigerian sex workers in Turin. In addition, without Emeka, it would have been difficult for me as the interviewer to gain the trust of these women. The Interviews took place at Via Nizza and Corso Francia, two popular streets for migrant sex workers in Turin. It was also through the help of Emeka that I was able to locate Via Nizza and Corso Francia to conduct the interviews with the sex workers. All the interviews were conducted in the same manner and each interview lasted for about 25 to 40 minutes. Mr. Emeka assisted me in recording the interviews with a tape recorder as I was too busy discussing the interview questions with the interviewees, observing the surroundings and taking down notes.

4.3.1 Interview Questions The interviews for this investigation were conducted in “Pidgin English” to ensure that participants express themselves freely since most of them could not speak English fluently. Additionally, the interview questions were written in Pidgin English for better understanding. I developed 18 short questions prior to the interview and the same questionnaire was used in all the interviews. The questionnaire was used as a guideline for the conversation and it made the

18 interviews to be comparable. However, participants were allowed to elaborate on the answers given for each question whenever they felt comfortable. Moreover, I made sure that the formulated questions were ethically sound because these women represent a vulnerable and marginalized group. The interview questions dealt with the reasons why the women migrated to Italy, if they liked their job and whether they made the decision on their own free will to work as sex workers in Italy. In addition, follow up questions such as: why can’t you quit? Was asked to participants who said that they did not like to work as sex workers or those who said it was not out of their own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy. Lastly, I also explained the UN definition of human trafficking to each participant before asking them the question on whether they see themselves as victims of trafficking.

4.3.2 Research Participants and Ethics When it comes to the number of participants, 15 Nigerian sex workers were interviewed in Via Nizza and Corso Francia. However, I ended up having only 12 complete interviews because 3 women could not complete their interview because they had clients to attend to. I could not complete the interviews with the 3 women on a later date due to time constraints. Therefore, I had to reduce the data by taking out the 3 interviews that were uncompleted. Participants in the interviews include some of the Nigerian women that I had met earlier with my friend Emeka at Mirafiori and others that were chosen randomly in Via Nizza and Corso Francia. Some of the women that I was meeting for the first time, agreed to be interviewed because Emeka, the president of the Nigerian Association assured them that the interview will not put them into any kind of problem. An ethical question to ask is: Did the presence of Emeka, the president of the Nigerian Association in Turin have any negative impact on the participants during the interviews? I believe that his presence had no negative impact on the participants during the interviews because the atmosphere was quite friendly. His presence made most of the participants to speak more freely and openly during the interviews. Some of them were even smiling with him while answering the questions. Moreover, participants also told me that, “If Emeka was not present at the interviews, it would have been very difficult for them to open up to a stranger that they were just meeting for the very first time”. Overall, I believe that Emeka’s presence at the interviews had a positive impact on the participants.

To ensure that I gathered the right information for this study, participants were selected based on 3 variables: gender, nationality, and profession. Thus, they had to be female, Nigerians and sex workers. Furthermore, all the participants were informed about the study and its aim before the interview. Also, I asked for their permission to record the interviews with a tape recorder and I received oral consent from each participant before recording the interviews. Similarly, the interviewees were also informed that their participation in the interview is voluntary. In addition, interviewees were informed that they could choose not to answer any of the questions. Lastly, all the participants were also informed about confidentiality.

Table 1. Selection of Research Participants Variables Requirements for selection

Gender Female: participants had to be female

Nationality Nigerian: participants had to be citizens of Nigeria

Profession Sex worker: participants had to acknowledge that they are sex workers in Italy

The criteria as mentioned in the table above was used to select participants for this study.

4.3.3 Researcher’s Positionality The role of the interviewer or researcher is very important when conducting interviews (May, 2001:127). I was aware that as the researcher, I had to remain neutral throughout this study. I did not allow my own biases, values or gender to shape my interpretations of this study. Tim May explains that the interviewer’s characteristics such as race and age must be taken into account when accessing, the effect that the interviewer had on the interviewees during the interview (May 2001:128). In my own case, I am from Cameroon and I was also an immigrant in Italy. Most of the interviewees felt comfortable speaking to me because we belong to the same race,

same age group and we have a similar culture. Some of them called me “brother” during the interviews. In addition, most of the interviewees were happy because the interviews were conducted using our local language “Pidgin-English”. The reason for this excitement is because most of the participants could not express themselves well in English. The excitement made them to speak more freely during the interviews.

4.3.4 Via Nizza and Corso Francia As earlier mentioned, Via Nizza and Corso Francia are two popular streets for migrant sex workers in Turin. Most migrant prostitutes in Italy work on streets, parks, and highways because of the government ban on brothels and organized prostitution. Via Nizza is located in the city center just a few meters away from Torino Porta Nuova train station, while Corso Francia is at the other end of the city. Both streets consist of bars, shops, and immigrant restaurants. Migrant sex workers from different countries such as Morocco, Ecuador, Romania, and Nigeria stand or sit in front of these bars and restaurants putting on harlot dresses to entice male clients. As men walk along these streets, the female sex workers seek their attention by calling them sweet names in Italian such as “Ciao Amore” meaning Hello Love and “Ciao Bella” meaning Hello Pretty. Most of the sex workers on these streets work in shifts. Those working day shift work from around 9 am to 8 pm while those working night shift work between 6 pm to 4 am the next day. Some of the women work both day and night shifts and they have just a few hours to rest in their homes. The price for sex on these streets is negotiated between the woman selling sex and the man buying sex. The cost for “one round of sex” what the Nigerian sex workers call “short time sex” is between 15 to 20 Euro. The sex workers have small rooms close by, where they take male clients to after the price has been agreed by both parties. I started interviewing sex workers in Via Nizza before going to Corso Francia. Ten Nigerian sex workers were interviewed in Via Nizza on two separate occasions. During the first day, 5 interviews were carried out and on the second day, I interviewed another five women. On the other hand, five interviews were conducted in Corso Francia in a day. All the interviews in Via Nizza and Corso Francia were conducted with the participants individually. The interviews on both streets were only conducted with women working during day shift and the time chosen for interviewing was between 10 am to 3 pm as most of the participants preferred. During the interviews, other migrant sex workers that were not Nigerians passed by to

see what was happening. Some of them interrupted the interviews and asked why I was only interviewing Nigerians. I had to explain to them that I was interviewing only Nigerians because my study is focused on Nigerians. The constant interruption of the interviews by other migrant sex workers is one of the main challenges that I encountered during fieldwork.

4.3.5 Material The material used for this research includes both primary and secondary sources. As I mentioned earlier, the primary data was collected through observation and semi-structured interviews with Nigerian sex workers in Italy. I analyzed the primary data by comparing interviews and identifying major themes used by participants (thematic analysis). On the other hand, the secondary sources used include previous research, books, academic journals, newspaper articles, and official websites of governmental and non-governmental organizations and agencies such as the United Nation and UNICRI. The secondary material was gathered through electronic databases such as JStor, and Google Scholar. In addition, secondary material was also gathered through the internet, and Malmö University’s library and online database. I used keywords such as “Nigerian Sex Workers in Italy”, “Nigerian Prostitutes in Italy” and “Migrant Prostitution in Italy” to search for secondary data electronically.

4.4 A Constructivist Approach As aforementioned, the theories used in this study were constructed from the data as opposed to starting the study with a hypothesis. Using this approach shows that I acknowledge the fact that reality is multiple and constructed and data is a product of the research process, not simply an observe object of it. Therefore, the point of departure for this study is a constructivist approach. Constructivists believe that our knowledge of the world is a product of social process, meaning a product of our own making (Moses & Knutsen, 2012: 169). The constructivist view is an alternative to the naturalist view, which argues that there is a real world that exist independently from our senses. Moses and Knutsen explained that the main priority for some constructivists is “to protect historical, social, ideational and language-based contexts, as this provide insights and meaning” (2012:202). This study explores the experiences of Nigerian sex workers in order to get an insight of their individual experiences. Participants used narration during the interviews to explain their life

22 experiences. Constructivism has a soft spot for narrative approaches because it provides the researcher with the context that is necessary to gain an insight of what is being investigated. Additionally, for constructivism language is key for constructing realities. The interviews that I conducted for this study was a discourse between myself as the researcher and the participants and the interviews convey meaning. All in all, I decided to follow the constructivist approach as explained above because I believe that reality is multiple, processual and constructed. In addition, the constructivist approach is appropriate for the topic of this study. However, while applying this approach, I acknowledge the fact that there is not just one way of knowing and not just one way of viewing the world.

4.5 Method Limitations The interview for this study was conducted in Pidgin English due to the fact that most of the participants were uneducated and could not speak fluent English. Even those that could understand a little English requested that the interviews should be conducted in Pidgin English so that they could express themselves better. Thus, the interviews were conducted in Pidgin English and then translated into English during transcription. As explained by Tim May, meaning can be lost during translation and misinterpretation of words or phrases is possible, which might affect the results of the research (2001:215-216). However, I am fluent in both English and Pidgin English, therefore, translating the material from Pidgin English to English is unlikely to have any significant impact on the results of this study. Nevertheless, as the researcher, I must be aware of this problem.

4.6 Validity and Reliability According to Creswell, validity in qualitative research means that the researcher checks whether the findings of his investigation are accurate. Reliability, on the other hand, requires that a researcher shows that his approach is consistent with other research or projects (2009:190) To begin with, in order to strengthen the validity and transparency of this study, I triangulate different data sources of information as Creswell recommend (2009:191). I did this by making sure that the themes established in the findings of this study are based on converging different perspectives of participant. Using this method will help increase the study’s validity (Ibid). On the other hand, to strengthen the reliability of this research, I checked the transcripts of the

interviews that I conducted with the Nigerian sex workers several times to make sure that they do not contain obvious mistakes made during transcription. Moreover, in terms of the reliability of this study, I believe that this study is reliable because of the interview method used in conducting this investigation. The method is consistent with previous studies that have been conducted on Nigerian sex workers. Likewise, in terms of reliability, I am certain that similar results are likely going to be obtained if this study is replicated, provided that semi-structured interviews are used as the method of data collection for the new research.

5 Results and Analysis The following section will present the results and analysis to answer the research questions: (1) What are the motivations for Nigerian women who end up working as sex workers to migrate to Italy? (2) Are these Nigerian sex workers in Italy, victims of human trafficking as depicted by the media and anti-trafficking organizations? This section is divided into two parts. The first part presents and discusses the results of the first research question of this study while the second part presents and discusses the results of the second research question. The findings are divided into different themes which explains the motives for migration and themes that answer the question of whether the Nigerian women are trafficked victims. The results of this investigation are discussed in light of the theories and previous studies presented earlier in chapter three.

5.1 Motivations for Migration The table below outlines the key themes used by participants during the interviews to describe their motivations for migrating to Italy:

Table 2. Key themes used by participants to describe their motives for migrating to Italy. Themes Quotes from Interviews

Poverty “The pain that I was passing through with my family was so unbearable that it got to a point that I said to myself: the poverty is

too much, it’s time to make a move, I cannot continue to suffer like this in Nigeria”. Low Income & High “You work a lot in Nigeria, but the money is not enough for your Income basic needs and you cannot save anything from your earnings. Is like you are laboring in vain because you work so hard and earn so little. The low wages from work in Nigeria made me to leave”.

“I came here because I wanted to get hard currency and increase my income”.

Quick Money “I traveled to Italy because I saw it as the only opportunity of getting rich faster and achieving my childhood dream of becoming a rich lady”.

Unemployment & “My frustration due to unemployment motivated me to look for Employment means to travel out of Nigeria. And today I am here in Italy”.

“My hope of coming to Italy was to get any kind of menial jobs that would put a few euros into my hands”. Family Assistance “The main reason that I had to leave Nigeria was because I wanted to work, make money, and provide for my children’s needs”.

Joining Family & “My main reason to leave Nigeria to Italy was to join my aunt who Friends was living in Milan”.

As highlighted in the table above, my findings revealed that the motivations for participants to migrate to Italy are poverty, low income, the quest for quick money, the desire to assist family members financially in Nigeria, unemployment, employment, high income, and the desire to join family and friends in Italy. These findings show that participants had diverse motives for migrating to Italy.

5.1.1 Poverty & Family Assistance Sex workers explained that poverty and the desire to assist family members in Nigeria financially, motivated them to leave Nigeria to Italy:

“I am from a very poor family in Nigeria; my parents were not able to send me to school. I had to drop out of school in primary five because my parents couldn’t afford the cost. Since then life has not been easy for me and my family. We could barely eat twice a day. So, when the opportunity came for me to travel, I didn’t hesitate because I saw it as an opportunity to change my poor economic situation and that of my family” (JS, 25 years old participant).

“I had to look for means to travel to Italy with the hope of getting Euro and assisting my younger siblings with their needs and their education” (HD, 27 years old participant).

The experiences of these women show that poverty and the desire to assist family members financially in Nigeria are major push factors forcing some of the participants to leave Nigeria to Italy. Assisting family members financially in Nigeria means remitting money to them to take care of their needs. This finding is similar to the findings of the study conducted by Antwi and Nahanga, which showed that migrant remittances are also a determinant of International migration for Nigerians (2014:325-326). In addition, this finding is also similar to the results of the study conducted by the International Organization for Migration in 2017, which found that Nigerians are leaving Nigeria due to lack of livelihood opportunities (IOM, 2017:19). The women are forced to leave Nigeria because most of them come from very poor family backgrounds. Leaving Nigeria to Italy is seen by some of the participants as a way to remove themselves and their families in Nigeria from abject poverty. They intend to remove their families from poverty by remitting money to them. Remittances can help family members in Nigeria to pay for basics such as food, rent, and school fees. Participants are forced to leave Nigeria voluntarily because if they stay, they might continue to wallow in abject poverty. The desperation to come out of poverty and the desire to assist family members in Nigeria are some of the reasons why most of these women end up in the hands of traffickers who exploit them.

5.1.2 Unemployment &Employment Some of the respondents said that they were forced to leave Nigeria because of unemployment and that their reason for coming to Italy was to gain employment:

“My uncle and his wife maltreated me and took all my parents’ properties. I had no choice but to run to Lagos in search of a job to survive and a new life. I arrived Lagos hoping to find a job as soon as possible. But, there were no jobs available for me in Lagos. I remained unemployed in Lagos for years. The lack of jobs in Lagos and Nigeria as a whole for unskilled citizens like myself made me to flee Nigeria to Italy. My hope of coming to Italy was to get any kind of menial jobs that would put a few euros into my hands” (JL, 28 years old participant).

The speech by JL above shows that poverty and the desire to assist family are not the only reasons why participants left Nigeria to Italy. While some of them left Nigeria because of poverty in their families, others left because of high unemployment in Nigeria. Their aim for migrating to Italy is to get a job, something that they could not get in Nigeria due to high youth unemployment. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics in Nigeria show that the youth unemployment rate in 2016 was 61.6% (Independent, 2018). Thus, unemployment in Nigeria is also a push factor forcing some of the women to emigrate from Nigeria. On the other hand, the hope of finding work in Italy can be seen as a pull factor attracting some of the participants to immigrate to Italy. This finding is similar to the results of the study conducted by Antwi and Nahanga in 2014, which also revealed that high unemployment in Nigeria is one of the main reasons why Nigerians leave Nigeria to other countries (2014:325).

5.1.3 Low-Income & High Income The problem of low wages in Nigeria is another major reason why participants left Nigeria to Italy. Some sex workers said that they left Nigeria because the salaries that they were earning from their jobs in Nigeria wasn’t enough to take care of their needs and that of their family. And, that they moved to Italy because they wanted to earn higher income:

“I came here because I wanted to increase my income from what I was earning in Nigeria. In Nigeria, you work and work, but you can barely feed with the money that you make from work. The low wages from work in Nigeria made me to leave and I came here because I wanted to get hard currency and increase my income. At least here in Italy, if you are paid in Euro, it becomes a lot of money in Naira when you change Euro to Naira” (SN, 30 years old participant).

The huge wage gap between developed countries and less developed countries have been one of the major reasons why a lot of people migrate from underdeveloped countries to developed countries. For some of the participants, low income in Nigeria was the push factor that motivated them to leave Nigeria while high income in Italy was the pull factor that attracted them to move to Italy. One solution to prevent young Nigerian women from leaving Nigeria to Italy could be to increase salaries for workers. Some of the women could have stayed back in Nigeria if they had a job with a reasonable income to live on. As some scholars argue, wage differentials will likely continue to be a determinant of international migration until wages are equalized between developed and underdeveloped countries (Sander et al., 2013).

5.1.4 Quick Money Participants also explained that the quest for quick money was another reason that made them to move to Italy:

“I traveled to Italy because I saw it as the only opportunity of getting rich faster and achieving my childhood dream of becoming a rich lady. You know Euro has more value compared to Nigerian Naira. So, coming to Italy and Europe is a great step for me to make money fast” (EV, 20 years old participant).

A lot of migrants from less developed countries today migrate to developed countries because they see it as a fast way of becoming millionaires in their home countries. This is often so because of the exchange rate between currencies. For example, in the case of Nigerians, 1000 Euro is about 436,000 Nigerian Naira (XE Currency Converter, 2018). The big gap between these two currencies is a motivation for some of the participants to migrate to Italy. The women

believe that they would become millionaires quicker in Nigeria if they are able to gather a few thousands of euros in Italy. The desire to make quick money and get rich faster is, therefore, a pull factor attracting some of the participants to migrate to Italy.

5.1.5 Joining Family & Friends Some of the participants explained that their reason to migrate to Italy was to join family members and friends who were already living in Italy:

“I had a lot of friends who were already living and working in Italy. This motivated me to come to Italy because I wanted to live together with them in the same country” (RT, 38 years old participant).

“My main reason for leaving Nigeria to Italy was to join my aunt who was living in Milan” (GZ, 21 years old participant).

The statements above show that the desire to reunite with family members and friends in Italy was a major pull factor for migration to some of the participants. The statements above also show that Nigerian migrants in Italy maintain social ties with family members and friends back in Nigeria. According to the network theory, such ties usually lead to further migration because they facilitate and reduce the costs of migration (Massey et al., 1993:448). Most of the interviewees also said that their trip to Italy was facilitated by other Nigerian migrants who were already settled in Italy:

“My mother’s friend who was living in Italy brought me here” (EB, 21 years old participant).

“I contacted one Nigerian man in Italy who act as a sponsor to young Nigerian girls who wished to travel to Italy and he helped me out. He was the person that arranged the trip for me to come here through Libya” (SN, 30 years old participant).

Narratives from participants show that most of the women migrated to Italy as a result of ties that they had with other Nigerian migrants who were living permanently in Italy. Without such ties, it might have been difficult for some of the women to get to Italy. This finding is similar to the results of Achebe’s study which also showed that Nigerian migrant networks in Italy assist potential Nigerian sex workers in Nigeria to migrate to Italy (Achebe: 2004). As the network theory suggests, it is possible to argue that the movement of Nigerian women from Nigeria to Italy is likely going to perpetuate. This is because new women arriving Italy from Nigeria will shape the path for further migration flow through their interpersonal relations with family and friends in Nigeria.

5.2 Trafficked Victims or Voluntary Sex Workers? The results of the second research question revealed that while the majority of Nigerian sex workers interviewed for this study were victims of human trafficking, a few were not. I will present and discuss this finding under the following two themes derived from the interviews: “Unplanned Prostitution” and “Planned Prostitution”.

5.2.1 Unplanned Prostitution Most of the participants said that their prostitution in Italy was unplanned. They said that they had no prior knowledge that they were brought to Italy to work as sex workers. According to them, they were deceived by their “Madams” or traffickers that they were traveling to Italy to do other jobs like hairdressers, nannies or waitresses:

“My madam deceived me that she was taking me to Italy to work in her salon as a hairdresser. She told my parents and I that she owns a very big beauty salon in Italy and that she was taking me to Italy to work as her assistant in her beauty salon” (JS, 25 years old participant).

“No, I was not aware that I was coming to Italy to do sex work. My madam deceived me that she was bringing me to Italy to continue the hair plaiting job that I was doing in Nigeria” (HD, 27 years old participant).

In the sex industry, a “Madam” is a female boss for prostitutes. She manages prostitutes with the aim of making profit by collecting part of their earnings. A man who does something similar is called a “Pimp”. In the case of Nigerian sex workers in Italy, the “Madams” or “Pimps” are often the traffickers who trafficked the women to Italy for prostitution in order to make profit from them. Some of the participants also claimed that it was not their decision to work as sex workers in Italy. According to them, they are being forced by their traffickers to work as sex workers against their will:

“I did not decide on my own to do this work. It was after I arrived Italy that the lady who brought me here told me that this was the job she has for me. She told me that I could not find another job here in Italy because I don’t have a residence permit and I can’t speak Italian. She forced me to do this job in order to pay back the money that she spent for my transportation and travel cost to Italy” (EV, 20 years old participant).

“I didn’t choose to do this job. My parents and my mother’s friend decided for me. I am being forced to do something against my wish all because of my parent’s greed for money” (EB, 21 years old participant).

All the participants who said that they were deceived and forced into prostitution also gave a similar response that they had to work as sex workers to repay thousands of euros to their traffickers as a fee for bringing them to Italy. For instance, “HD” explained with tears in her eyes that she has to repay 60, 000 Euro to her trafficker for transporting her to Italy:

“My madam said that I must do this job and pay her the sum of 60.000 Euro that she spent in bringing me to Italy” (HD, 27 years old participant).

Judging from the UN definition of human trafficking mentioned earlier in this paper, the series of examples above show that some of the participants that I interviewed for this study are indeed victims of human trafficking. This is because they were deceived in Nigeria, smuggled to Italy and forced into prostitution by their traffickers against their will. Their traffickers exploit them

31 by deceiving them and forcing them into prostitution. In addition, the traffickers exploit the women by demanding thousands of euros from them. The sole interest of the trafficker is to make huge amount of money from the prostitution of their victims not minding how their victims feel. As the UN definition of human trafficking explain, transporting someone from their country of origin into a destination country through deception for the purpose of sexual exploitation is human trafficking (UNODC, 2018). This particular finding is similar to the results of Baye’s study conducted in 2012, which also revealed that Nigerian sex workers in Italy are exploited by their traffickers. In addition, this finding is also similar to the finding of Achebe’s study, which also found that Nigerian sex workers in Italy are exploited by their traffickers because the sex workers have to work as prostitutes to repay large amounts of money to their traffickers for bringing them to Italy (Achebe: 2004).

5.2.2 Planned Prostitution. On the other hand, the findings of this study also revealed that a few of the Nigerian sex workers that I interviewed for this study were not victims of human trafficking because they made the decision on their own free will to leave Nigeria and to work as sex workers in Italy. This group of respondents said that they were not deceived or forced into prostitution by anyone and that no one was exploiting them. When asked if they were aware that they were coming to Italy to work as sex workers, they said yes:

“Of course. I was aware that this is the work I would do here. I have been working as a sex worker in Nigeria for 4 years before coming to Italy” (SN, 30 years old participant).

“Yes, I was aware that I was coming here for this work. I actually contacted a madam who is living in Italy myself” (RT, 38 years old participant).

Majority of the participants who said that they had prior knowledge that they were coming to Italy to work as sex workers also said that they made the decision on their own to work as sex workers in Italy:

“I made the decision to become a sex worker since when I was in Nigeria because my family is not wealthy enough to provide for my needs and that of my siblings” (SN, 30 years old participant).

The series of examples above show that some of the participants are not victims of human trafficking because they were neither deceived nor forced into prostitution and they were not being exploited like the other group of participants discussed earlier. Instead, for this group of participants, the decision to work as sex workers is a rational decision made by the participants individually. The UN definition of trafficking for prostitution or sexual exploitation presented in chapter three of this paper does not cover this group of participants as victims of trafficking because they decided by themselves to prostitute in Italy. They are not being exploited by traffickers like the other group of participants who said that it was not their decision to work as sex workers in Italy. Narratives from participants show that poverty is one of the main reasons why some of the participants voluntarily prostitute in Italy.

6. Conclusion This final section of this paper is divided into two parts. The first part is a concluding remark for this study while the second part presents suggestions for further research on the topic of this paper.

6.1 Concluding remarks The aim of this IMER-bachelor thesis was twofold. First, to get an in-depth understanding of the motivations for Nigerian women who end up working as sex workers to migrate to Italy. Second, to investigate whether these women are victims of human trafficking as depicted by the media and anti-trafficking organizations. Primary data was collected through observation and semi- structured interviews with Nigerian female sex workers in the city of Turin, Italy. The primary data was supplemented by secondary data such as books, previous research on the topic of this study, academic journals, newspaper articles and official websites of governmental and non- governmental organizations and agencies. The research questions addressed were as follows:

- What are the motivations for Nigerian women who end up working as sex workers to migrate to Italy? - Are these Nigerian sex workers in Italy, victims of human trafficking as depicted by the media and anti-trafficking organizations?

I used the push-pull theory, network theory, the UN definition of human trafficking, and previous studies to analyze the results of this study. The two theories used were constructed from my interview data. The results of the first research question showed that poverty, unemployment, low income and the desire to assist family members financially in Nigeria, were the main push factors motivating participants to leave Nigeria to Italy. On the other hand, the result also showed that the quest for quick money, employment, high income, and the desire to join friends and family members in Italy were the main pull factors motivating participants to migrate to Italy. Nigerians will likely continue to migrate to Italy and other western countries for economic reasons, so long as the economic issues in Nigeria are not addressed. In addition, the findings of the second research question of this study revealed that the majority of Nigerian sex workers interviewed in this study were victims of human trafficking because they were deceived and forced into prostitution against their will and they were being exploited by their traffickers. However, my findings also revealed that a few of the Nigerian sex workers were not victims of trafficking because they decided by their own free will to work as sex workers in Italy and nobody was exploiting them. In terms of reliability, I am certain that similar results are likely to be obtained if this study is replicated, provided that semi-structured interviews are used to gather data for the new research. Moreover, this study is reliable because the method used to conduct this study is consistent with previous studies that have been conducted on Nigerian sex workers in Italy. As indicated in chapter one, irregular migration and human trafficking have long been a societal problem for the Italian government. To combat this social problem, I would suggest more collaboration between the government of Italy and the government of major sending countries like Morocco and Nigeria.

6.2 Suggestions for further research As discussed in the limitations and delimitations chapter, this investigation only focused on Nigerian sex workers in Turin. It would be interesting to conduct a broader research that include Nigerian sex workers in other major Italian cities like Milan, Rome, and Napoli. Secondly, it would also be interesting to investigate the different challenges faced by Nigerian sex workers in Italian prostitution. During transcription, I noticed that almost all the participants that I interviewed for this study come from “Edo State” in southern Nigeria. Hence, it would be interesting to investigate further why majority of the Nigerian female sex workers in Italy come from Edo State.

7 Reference List

Achebe, N. (2004). The Road to Italy: Nigerian Sex Workers at Home and Abroad. The Journal of Women History, Volume 15. No 4, pp. 178 –185 (Online). Available at: https://muse-jhu-edu.proxy.mah.se/article/52273 (Accessed on 05 April 2018).

ANTWI, D.S. and NAHANGA, V. (2014). Determinants of International Migration: The Nigerian Experience. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Vol 62(2): 321–327. (Online). Available at: https://acta.mendelu.cz/media/pdf/actaun_2014062020321.pdf (Accessed 09 April 2018).

Baye, Eneze Modupe-Oluwa (2012). ‘Experiences of Nigerian Trafficked Women; Voices and Perspectives from Italy’. Institute of Social Studies. The Hague. (Online). Available at: file:///C:/Users/vita/Downloads/Eneze%20Modupe%20- %20Oluwa%20Baye_BAYE%20ENEZE%20RESEARCH%20PAPER%20FI NAL_1536%20(2).pdf (Accessed 17 March 2018).

Campani G. (2000). Immigrant Women in Southern Europe: Social Exclusion, Domestic Work and Prostitution in Italy. In: King R., Lazaridis G., Tsardanidis C. (eds) Eldorado or Fortress? Migration in Southern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Campani, G. (2009). Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation and the Sex Business in the New Context of International Migration: the Case of Italy, South European Society and Politics, Vol 3:3, PP. 230-261. (Online). Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13608740308539555 (Accessed on 14 April 2018).

Creswell, W. J. (2014). Research Design. Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 4th edition, London: SAGE Publications, Inc.

D’Antuono, A., Andalo, F., Carla, E., and De Tommassso, S. (2001). Prevalence of STDs and HIV Infection among Immigrants Sex Workers attending an STD Centre in Bologna, Italy. NCBI, volume 77 (3), P. 220. (Online). Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1744297/ (Accessed 21 April 2018).

EUCPN. (2014). “Italian Policy on Prostitution and Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation”. (Online). Available at: http://eucpn.org/document/italian-policy-prostitution- and-trafficking-sexual-exploitation (Accessed 07 March 2018).

IOM. (2017). “Enabling a better understanding of migration flows and its root-causes from Nigeria towards Europe”. Reliefweb. (Online). Available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Desk%20Review%20Re port%20-%20NIGERIA%20-%20DP.1635%20- %20MinBuZa%20%2803%29.pdf (Accessed 23 April 2018).

Independentent. (2018). “Youth Unemployment: A Ticking Volcano”, Independent, 9 March (Online). Available at: https://independent.ng/youth-unemployment-a-ticking- volcano/ (Accessed 21 March 2018).

ISTAT. (2017). “Poverty in Italy”. ISTAT. (Online). Available at: https://www.istat.it/en/archive/202342 (Accessed 09 April 2018).

Kelly, A. (2017). “Number of Nigerian women trafficked to Italy for sex almost doubled in 2016” The Guardian. (Online). Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/12/nigerian- women-trafficked-to-italy-for-sex-doubled-2016 (Accessed 16 March 2018).

King, R. (2012). Theories and Typologies of Migration: An Overview and Primer. Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity, and Welfare (MIM): Malmö.

Kristof, N. (2006). “Sex Work “Versus “Prostitution” The New York Times. (Online). Available at: https://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/sex-work-versus-prostitution/ (Accessed 05 February 2018).

Leah, K. (2017). “SEX TRAFFICKING FROM NIGERIA TO ITALY: A COMPLEX AND VICIOUS CYCLE”. London International Development Centre. (Online). Available at: http://www.lidc.org.uk/blog/2017/01/04/sex-trafficking-nigeria- italy-complex-and-vicious-cycle (Accessed on 04 March 2018).

Massey, D.S., Arango, J, Hugo G, Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., and Taylor. J.E. (2008). World in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the End of the Millennium. New York: Oxford University Press.

Massey et al. (1993). Theories of International Migration: A Review and Appraisal. (Online). Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2938462 (Accessed, 19 April 2018).

May, T. (2001). Social Research. Issues, Methods and Process, 4th edition, New York: Open University Press.

Moses, W.J. and Knutsen, L.T. (2012). Ways of Knowing. Competing Methodologies in Social and Political Research, 2nd Ed, London, Palgrave Macmillan.

Open Society Foundations. (2017). “Understanding Sex Work in an Open Society” Open Society Foundations (Online). Available at: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/understanding-sex-work- open-society (Accessed 11 April 2018).

OXFAM. (2017). “Wealth of five richest men in Nigeria could end extreme poverty in Country yet 5 million face hunger” Oxfam International. (Online). Available at: https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-05-17/wealth-five-

richest-men-nigeria-could-end-extreme-poverty-country (Accessed 20 February 2018).

Silverman, David (2006). Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analyzing Talk, Text and Interaction, SAGE Publications Ltd: London.

Tamsin, S. (2003). “New danger for Italy’s foreign prostitutes”. BBC News. (Online). Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3103460.stm (Accessed 19 February 2018). Triandafyllidou, A. (Ed) (2010). Irregular Migration in Europe: Myths and Realities, Farnham: Ashgate.

UNHCR. (2018). “Mediterranean Situation”. (Online). Available at: http://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean (Accessed on 14 March 2018).

UNICRI. (2010). ‘Trafficking of Nigerian Girls in Italy: The Data, the stories, the Social Services’. United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute. Rome. (Online). Available at: http://www.unicri.it/services/library_documentation/publications/unicri_series/ trafficking_nigeria-italy.pdf (Accessed 29 March 2018).

UNODC. (2018). “Human Trafficking”. (Online). Available at: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human- trafficking.html (Accessed 20 April 2018). Sander, N., Abel, G.J and Riosmena, F. (2013). The Future of International Migration: Developing Expert-Based Assumptions for Global Population Projections. Vienna Institute of Demography. (Online). Available at: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/subsites/Institute/VID/PDF/Publications/Wo rking_Papers/WP2013_07.pdf (Accessed 11 May 2018).

XE Currency Converter. (2018). “XE Live Exchange Rates” (Online). Available at: http://www.xe.com/# (Accessed 22 April 2018).

Zermiani et al. (2012). Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Hepatitis C in Survey of Female Sex Workers in the North-East of Italy. Open Aids J. Vol 6, PP. 60-64. (Online). Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3401890/ (Accessed 10 March 2018).

8 Appendix

8.1 Interview Guide Questions for Nigerian sex workers

1. What is your Gender? a. Female b. Male c. Other

2. What is your Age?

3. What is your Marital status? a. Single b. Married c. Divorce d. Other

4. What is your level of Education? a. No Formal Education

b. Primary Education c. Secondary Education d. Tertiary Education

5. What is your Citizenship?

6. What part of Nigeria do you come from?

7. How did you come to Italy?

8. How long have you been living in Italy?

9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy?

10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker?

11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy?

12. How do you find this country?

13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone?

13a. If so, to whom and why?

14. Do you like your Job?

14a. If not, why can’t you quit?

15. Would you like to have a different job?

16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking?

17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy?

18. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thank you for participating!

8.2 Transcription of Recorded Interviews from Via Nizza and Corso Francia All the interviews have been duly translated from Pidgin English to English by myself. Since I speak both languages, I tried to stay as close as possible to the original version of the recorded interviews. The sex workers frequently used slang words like “Runs” and “Huzzle” to refer to their job. This has been directly translated into work or sex work. It should be noted that the names used in this transcription are not the real names of the participants. Respect for confidentiality is the main reason why I decided not to use the real names of the participants in this transcription.

Transcription INT1. “JS” JS was the first Nigerian woman that I talked to in Via Nizza. She was extremely pleased and excited to participate in the interview. She was one of the women that I had met earlier in Mirafiori during the interview planning.

Questions 1. What is your Gender? JS: I am female. 2. What is your Age? JS: I am 25 years old. 3. What is your Marital status? JS: I’m single, but I have one child.

4. What is your level of Education? JS: I left school in primary five. 5. What is your Citizenship? JS: I am fully Nigerian, and my both parents are Nigerians as well. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? JS: I am from Benin in Edo State, southern Nigeria. 7. How did you come to Italy? JS: I came to Italy by boat from Libya. The journey wasn’t easy at all. It was a very risky journey that only the strongest survived. We came in a boat as a group of migrants from different countries. Some people fell in the sea and died during our trip. My journey to Italy was very horrible. It will take us a lot of time if I have to tell you all that happened during the trip. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? JS: I have been here for about a year. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? JS: Hmm! My brother, you know the hardship and poverty in Africa, right? I am from a very poor family in Nigeria; my parents were not able to send me to school. I had to drop out of school in primary five because my parents couldn’t afford the cost. Since then life has not been easy for me and my family. We could barely eat twice a day. So, when the opportunity came for me to travel, I didn’t hesitate because I saw it as an opportunity to change my poor economic situation and that of my family. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? JS: Not really. My madam deceived me that she was taking me to Italy to work in her beauty salon as a hairdresser. She told my parents and I that she owns a very big saloon in Italy and that she was taking me to Italy to work as her assistant in her beauty salon. I was not aware that this is the kind of job that I would be doing in Italy. I only became aware of this work when I got here. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? JS: No, I did not decide by myself to work in this country as a sex worker. Like I already told you, my madam deceived me that I was coming here to work in her beauty salon as a hairdresser.

But when I arrived here I became aware that this is the job I must do. In fact, she forced me into this work. 12. How do you find this country? JS: My view about this country is fifty-fifty. First, I like Italy because it is beautiful and more organized than Nigeria. But, I also dislike the fact that there are a lot of racist people here who doesn’t want to see immigrants especially African and Muslim immigrants. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? JS: Yes, I give her all the money that I make from this work. 13a. If so, to whom and why? JS: I give the money to my madam, for bringing me to Italy. Before bringing me to Italy we had an agreement in Nigeria that upon my arrival to Italy, I must work and pay back all the money that she spent for my trip to Italy. She said the total amount is 50,000 Euro. So, all the money that I make now goes to her until the debt is cleared. I will start to the take the money that I make after paying my madam’s money. 14. Do you like your Job? JS: I don’t like the job, but I have no choice now. I have to do the job. Besides, now our days a lot of people do jobs that they don’t like right? For example, not everyone who goes to the factories to do difficult jobs there like their jobs, but they still have to do it to survive. So, I don’t like this work, but I have to do it to survive. 14a. If not, why can’t you quit? JS: No, I can’t quit this job. My madam made me to take an oath in a shrine in Nigeria that I have to work with her and pay back her money for helping me to travel to Italy. If I quit this job I will die or run mad because of the oath. Look on the streets of Turin and Milan you would find some girls that have run mad because they tried to quit. So, I can’t quit now, I just have to work and pay her money. 15. Would you like to have a different job? JS: Yes, but only if my madam gives her permission. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? JS: If I have to go by the definition of human trafficking that you just explained to me, I would say yes. I see myself as a victim because all the money that I make from sex work goes to my

madam. And she also deceived me before bringing me to Italy. She never told me that this was the kind of work that I was coming here to do. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? JS: The only advice that I can give to young Nigerian women in Nigeria is that they should not fall prey to people who come to Nigeria promising them that they have jobs for them in Italy because the only job that this person have for you here is to sell your body. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? JS: Well, I just want to say thanks for giving me the opportunity to participate in your project and to share my experiences with you.

Transcription INT2. “LI”

LI was putting on a short, tight-fitting skirt with heels on the day of the interview. She looked more like a minor, I thought she was around 16 years old. But I was amazed when she told me that she was 22 years old.

Questions 1. What is your Gender? LI: Hahaha. I am female. 2. What is your Age? LI: I am 22 years old. Oh really? I thought you were around 16. LI: Hahaha. A lot of people say that I look younger than my age. But, 22 is my real age. Okay 3. What is your Marital status? LI: Am not married. 4. What is your level of Education? LI: I completed primary school and after that, I stopped schooling to help my sick mother in her small retail business. 5. What is your Citizenship? LI: Nigerian.

6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? LI: I am from Benin the capital city of Edo State. Do you know Nigeria very well? Yes, I have been there on several occasions since it’s a neighboring country to my homeland Cameroon. LI: Okay, I see. 7. How did you come to Italy? LI: The person who brought me to Italy arranged some travel documents for me, which I used to board a flight to Rome. So, that was how I found myself here. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? LI: I have been here for 2 years. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? LI: I left Nigeria because the economic condition of my family was so frustrating. I saw how other girls who were in Italy helped their families back in Nigeria and removed them from poverty. This was what motivated me also to look for means to travel here. So, I could make some money for myself and family. The pain that I was passing through with my family in Nigeria was so unbearable. It got to a point that I said to myself: the poverty is too much, it’s time to make a move, I cannot continue to suffer like this in Nigeria. Then, I left for Italy. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? LI: Hahaha. I did my research well. I contacted some of my friends who were already living in Italy and helping their poor parents back home in Benin. Since these girls were my friends, they opened up to me and told me the kind of job that they were doing in Italy. At first, I said no thanks, I won’t come to Italy to do such. But when the economic hardship in Nigeria became unbearable, I decided that it was much preferable to come here and make some money. Even if it means selling my body than to stay in Nigeria and die because of poverty. So, to answer your question, I was aware that this is the work that I was coming to do here. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? LI: Yes, I made the decision in Nigeria as I have explained to you. I made the decision from Nigeria that it was better to come here and do this job like other girls, so I can make some quick cash for myself and family. I wanted to make lots of money so that I improve my family’s

economic condition and be able to drive big cars like other young girls of my age are doing. Rather than staying in Nigeria and wallow in poverty. 12. How do you find this country? LI: The country is not a paradise as I had thought. But at least am making money, therefore, it’s better than Nigeria. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? LI: Yes. 13a. If so, to whom and why? LI: I have to give 80 percent of what I earn to my madam because she was the one that brought me to Italy. Without her help, I will not be here. We made an agreement that I was going to pay her 45,000 Euro, for helping me to come to Italy. So, for now, I give her 80 percent of the money I make because I want to pay her back as soon as possible. After paying her 45000, all the money that I make will be for myself alone. However, the 20 percent that I keep is still helping me a lot because I am able to send money to my parents in Nigeria. 14. Do you like your Job? LI: This is the only job I have in this country, so I have to like it, my brother. 15. Would you like to have a different job? LI: Yes, I would love to have another job if it pays better. But you know there is a lot of economic crisis here in Italy and it is not easy to find another job. So many Italians are unemployed and searching for jobs. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? LI: No, because nobody forced me to come to Italy and nobody forced me to do this work that I am doing. I made the decision to come to Italy out of my own free will and I made the decision to do this work out of my own will. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? LI: What I would tell them is this: life in Italy or Europe isn’t a paradise as the media make us to believe in Nigeria. However, people are free to make whatever decisions they want. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? LI: No, there is nothing to add, I need to go in search of clients. You speak Italian? LI: No, I only know how to call my clients in Italian by saying “Ciao Amore”.

Okay, thank you for participating.

Transcription INT3. “RT”

Physically RT seemed to be very quiet and she looked older than most of the sex workers that I met in Via Nizza. She is also one of the women that I met with Emeka in Mirafiori neighborhood Turin, during the interview planning. So, RT was already prepared for this interview. Questions 1. What is your Gender? RT: Female. 2. What is your Age? RT: I am 38 years old. 3. What is your Marital status? RT: I was married but my husband died so many years ago in a car accident in Nigeria 4. What is your level of Education? RT: I was born in an interior village in Edo State, and I had no opportunity to have formal education. 5. What is your Citizenship? RT: I am Nigerian. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? RT: From Esan, Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? RT: I came here through Libya. From Nigeria, I traveled to Libya and from Libya, I came to Italy through the sea with a boat. Sicily was the first Italian town that I entered. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? RT: I have been living here for 7 years. ''Wow! Quite a long time. Do you speak Italian? RT: Very little, the language is very difficult for someone like me that never went to school you know. Yeah, you are correct. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy?

RT: There are a lot of different reasons that made me to leave Nigeria. I left Nigeria when I was 30 years old. I was married in Nigeria, but I later lost my husband in a car accident. We had three children together before his death. He was the breadwinner of the family so when he died life wasn’t easy for me and my 3 kids. I have no education, I could not find a job in Nigeria because I am not educated. The economic hardship was so much for me and my kids. This was the main reason why I had to leave Nigeria. I wanted to work, make money, and provide for my children’s needs. Moreover, I had a lot of friends who were already living and working in Italy. This motivated me to come to Italy because I wanted to live together with them in the same country. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? RT: Yes, I was aware that I was coming here for this work. I actually contacted a madam who is living in Italy myself, when she came to Nigeria for vacation. We spoke one on one in her apartment in Benin City. She told me that she has several girls in Italy who are doing this work for her. She told me that she will help me to travel to Italy and join her and I will do this work and refund her the travel cost that she spent on me. She also assured me that I would become a boss of my own after paying her money. I accepted because I had nothing doing back home in Nigeria and my 3 children are my responsibility. You know, Life is not easy in Nigeria when you are a single mother and you have no money and no job. Yeah, that’s true, I understand. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? RT: Yes, I am doing this job out of my own free will nobody is forcing me into it. I was the one that first approached my madam to seek help because of my economic problems. She told me the nature of this job and I made the decision on my own to accept It. 12. How do you find this country? RT: The country is lovely. Light and water are more regular than in Nigeria. However, the cost of living here is very expensive. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? RT: Not anymore. When I just came to Italy I was paying part of the money that I make from sex work to my madam as the debt that I owed her. I paid her for 6 years. So now am debt free. All the money that I make for this work now goes to me. I am now a boss of my own. That’s Nice so how much did you pay your Madam in total for bringing you here?

RT: 40,000 Euro Okay. 14. Do you like your Job? RT: Yeah, I love the job. This is the only job that can give me quick cash here in Italy considering the fact that I have no formal education. Even if I had education, I don’t speak Italian finding a job in this country today for immigrants is nearly impossible. The country is still suffering from financial crisis. 15. Would you like to have a different job? RT: Mmmm! I don’t think there is a job here as lucrative as this one for someone like me that didn’t go to school. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? RT: Based on the definition of human trafficking that you have given me, I would say “No “I do not see myself as a victim of trafficking because I made the decision to come to Italy for this work on my own. And right now, I am a boss of my own doing this work out of my own decision. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? RT: I have no advice for them. Nobody advised me about Italy when I made the decision to come here. Therefore, they should make their choice on whether they want to come or stay in Nigeria. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? RT: No.

Transcription INT4. “EV”

1. What is your Gender? EV: Female. 2. What is your Age? EV: I am 20 years. 3. What is your Marital status? EV: Single. 4. What is your level of Education?

EV: I finished primary school. 5. What is your Citizenship? EV: I am from Nigeria. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? EV: I am from Benin City in Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? EV: I went to Libya and from Libya, I came to Italy through the sea. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? EV: I am new here, I have just been here for 10 months. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? EV: I endured a lot of suffering back there in Nigeria during my youthful age. The suffering made me to make a vow to myself that I will do everything in life to make money quick and be a rich lady. I am from a very poor family background in Nigeria and I have not been to the university. The possibility of getting a well-paid job in Nigeria was nonexistent. I traveled to Italy because I saw it as the only opportunity of getting rich faster and achieving my childhood dream of becoming a rich lady. You know Euro has more value compared to Nigerian Naira. So, coming to Italy and Europe is a great step for me to make money fast. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? EV: No. I didn’t know that I was coming here to do this kind of job. When I was in Nigeria, my aunt connected me to a Nigerian lady that is living here in Italy. I approached this lady and told her about my dream of going to Europe and making fast money. The lady promised me that she will bring me to Italy and that she will help me to look for a job upon my arrival. She never told me it was this kind of work. She promised to look for me a job to work as a salesgirl or a waitress in a hotel or a restaurant. It was only when I came here that she told me about this work. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? EV: No, I did not decide on my own to do this work. It was after I arrived Italy that the lady who brought me here (my madam), told me that this was the job she has for me. She told me that I could not find another job here in Italy because I don’t have a residence permit and I can’t speak Italian. She forced me to do this job in order to pay back the money that she spent for my transportation and travel cost to Italy.

12. How do you find this country? EV: I am still new in Italy, I cannot really say much about Italy. But so far everything seems okay. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? EV: Yes. 13a. If so, to whom and why? EV: To my madam of course. She brought me here and I am living with her. Before she brought me here, we had an agreement in Nigeria that I was coming to work and pay back the money that she used for my travel to Italy. I was even taken to a shrine in Nigeria, where I performed a lot of rituals and I took an oath, saying “if I don’t work and pay back her money I should go crazy or I should die”. Therefore, I give her part of the money I make from this work as a payment to the debt that I owe her for bringing me here. 14. Do you like your Job? EV: No, I do not like this work, it’s so stigmatizing. 14a. If not, why can’t you quit? EV: I can’t quit because of the oath I told you about that I took in the shrine in Nigeria before coming to Italy. I do not want to go mad and I do not want to die either. So, quitting is not an option at the moment. 15. Would you like to have a different job? EV: Yes, I really wish I could have another job. But, I cannot look for another job here because I don’t have a residence permit, I am living here illegally. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? EV: Yes. I was deceived that I was coming here to work either as a waitress or a sales girl. Just look at me now, I have to do this job even though I do not like it. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? EV: I would like to tell them to be mindful of people who promise jobs in Europe for young girls because not all that glitter is gold. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? EV: No, that is all I have to say.

Transcription INT5. “JL”

1. What is your Gender? JL: Female. 2. What is your Age? JL: I am 28. 3. What is your Marital status? JL: Cohabiting. 4. What is your level of Education? JL: I dropped out of school in secondary school. 5. What is your Citizenship? JL: I am Nigerian. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? JL: I am from Igbo. 7. How did you come to Italy? JL: First, I went to Libya from Nigeria and I stayed in Libya for 1 year and 6 months doing menial jobs and saving money to continue my trip to Europe. Once the money was complete, I contacted smugglers in Tripoli Libya’s capital. I paid the smugglers and they smuggled me to Italy by boat. You must have paid the smugglers quite a lot of money? JL: Oh yes, I paid them 2000 US dollars for the trip to Italy. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? JL: I have been living here for 3 years. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? JL: I am the only child for my parents. I used to live with my parents in the village, but they were both murdered mysteriously by my wicked uncle. After my parents died, I went to live with my uncle and his wife because they were the only family I had. My uncle and his wife maltreated me and took all my parents’ properties. I had no choice but to run to Lagos in search of a job to survive and a new life. I arrived Lagos hoping to find a job as soon as possible. But, there were no jobs available for me in Lagos. I remained unemployed in Lagos for years. My friends in Lagos were the ones feeding and housing me. The lack of jobs in Lagos and Nigeria as a whole

for unskilled citizens like myself made me to flee Nigeria to Italy. My hope of coming to Italy was to get any kind of menial jobs that would put a few euros into my hands. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? JL: No, I had no idea that this was the kind of work that I was coming to do here. I thought I would be able to secure a menial job for myself here. But, I could not find any work to do here, first, because I am undocumented and secondly, there are not so many jobs in Italy. Many people are unemployed in this country. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? JL: Yes, I decided by myself to work as a sex worker because I could not find a job here. I needed to survive, and this is the only thing that I could do to survive in this foreign land. 12. How do you find this country? JL: It’s preferable to Nigeria. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? JL: No. All the money that I make from this work goes to myself because I am a boss of my own. I am not working under anyone like most girls here. 14. Do you like your Job? JL: Yes, I like it. They say a bird at hand is better than a million birds in the bush. 15. Would you like to have a different job? JL: Yeah for sure. I would love to have another job, but there is none for me. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? JL: No, because nobody trafficked me here and I am not being exploited by anyone. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? JL: To take life slowly. There is no need to rush life. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? JL: Yes, I just want to say that I hope our leaders in Nigeria do something to assist young girls in need in Nigeria. So that there will be no need for them to leave Nigeria.

Transcription INT6. “EB”

1. What is your Gender?

EB: I am female. 2. What is your Age? EB: I am 21 years old. 3. What is your Marital status? EB: I am not married. 4. What is your level of Education? EB: Primary education. 5. What is your Citizenship? EB: I am from Nigeria. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? EB: From Benin, Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? EB: My mother’s friend who was living in Italy brought me here. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? EB: I have been here for approximately 7 months. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? EB: I came here because my parents pressurized me to come here especially my mother. My mother has a friend who have been living here in Italy for 15 years. She has made a lot of money in Italy from this sex work and she has invested a lot in Nigeria. My mother contacted her and pleaded with her to take me along with her. So that, I can be able to make money as her friend and improve the living condition of my family. I didn’t want to come to Italy, but my parents were very happy when this lady accepted to take me along with her. They pressurized me and forced me to travel to Italy and live with this lady against my own will. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? EB: Yes, I was aware that this is the work that I was brought here to do. That was the main reason why I was refusing to come here in the first place, I wasn’t ready to do this job. My mother’s friend had confided in my parents that this was the kind of job that she did to make her money. She told my parents that this was the kind of job that I would do here, in order to become rich as she is. My parents saw it as an opportunity for me to get rich and upgrade the family status. My mother told me that I must obey all what her friend asked me to do while I am here.

11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? EB: I didn’t choose to do this job. My parents and my mother’s friend decided for me. I am being forced to do something against my wish all because of my parent’s greed for money. I do not like to sell my body for money. But in this situation, I have no choice. 12. How do you find this country? EB: I don’t really like this country. The people are so cold towards immigrants and the language is very difficult. The only time I get in contact with Italians is when men come to purchase my body. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? EB: Yeah, I do. 13a. If so. to whom and why? EB: I always give all the money that I make from this job to my mother’s friend. And at the end of every month, she gives me some of the money to send to my parents in Nigeria for their upkeep. The reason I am giving her all the money is to reimburse the money that she used in bringing me here. This was her agreement with my parents. 14. Do you like your Job? EB: No, I detest this job with my whole heart and soul. 14a. If not, why can’t you quit? EB: I cannot quit immediately. First, I have to pay back all the money that my mother’s friend used in bringing me to Italy. My parents did not contribute a dime to my trip to Italy, it was this lady that did everything including my flight ticket, I have to pay back this money with interest. I am indebted to her. This was the agreement that she had with my parents. If I quit without paying back, then I would be putting my parents in trouble and I do not want that to happen. Because something like that can lead to my parents being murdered in Nigeria. It has happened to other families that I know in Nigeria when their daughter tried to break away from the agreement that she had with her agent or sponsor. So, I don’t want something horrible to happen to my parents. 15. Would you like to have a different job? EB: Yeah, I would really like to have another job if I had the means. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? EB: Yeah, I do. I was forced into this godforsaken work by my own parents and my mother’s friend.

17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? EB: That they should not come to Italy because life is not easy here. Rather, they should go to university in Nigeria and look for work there. They shouldn’t come here to sell their body. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? EB: Not really, the only thing now in my mind is to work harder and pay back the debt that I have to pay because I need my freedom.

Transcription INT7. “SN”

1. What is your Gender? SN: Female. 2. What is your Age? SN: 30 years old. 3. What is your Marital status? SN: Single. 4. What is your level of Education? SN: I started secondary school, but later on, I dropped out of school. 5. What is your Citizenship? SN: Am Nigerian. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? SN: I am from Benin, Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? SN: I contacted one Nigerian man in Italy who act as a sponsor to young Nigerian girls who wished to travel to Italy and he helped me out. He was the person that arranged the trip for me to come here through Libya. A man? SN: Of course, a man. He has lots of contacts in Nigeria, Libya, and here in Italy, but he lives in Nigeria. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? SN: Two years and six months. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy?

SN: I came here because I wanted to increase my income from what I was earning in Nigeria. In Nigeria, you work and work, but you can barely feed with the money that you make from work. You work a lot in Nigeria, but the money is not enough for your basic needs and you cannot save anything from your earning. Is like you are laboring in vain because you work so hard and earn so little. The low wages from work in Nigeria made me to leave and I came here because I wanted to get hard currency and increase my income. At least here in Italy, if you are paid in Euro, it becomes a lot of money in Naira when you change Euro to Naira. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? SN: Of course. I was aware that this is the work I would do here. I have been working as a sex worker in Nigeria for 4 years before coming to Italy. I decided to be an international sex worker because the money that you make from sex work in Nigeria isn’t good at all. Some men in Nigeria pay only 200 Naira for short time sex. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? SN: Yes, I made the decision to become a sex worker since when I was still in Nigeria because my family is not wealthy enough to provide for my needs and that of my siblings. My parents had 8 children with no money to send us to school. And, the government in Nigeria doesn’t provide jobs to people like us who doesn’t have connections in the society. So, I made my choice to do this job in Nigeria and I decided to make my work international by coming here. 12. How do you find this country? SN: It’s a very nice place, but also costly for someone coming from Nigeria because life is much cheaper in Nigeria. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? SN: No, I don’t give money to anyone 14. Do you like your Job? SN: Sure. Especially now that I am here in Italy. I see this job as an opportunity to get rich faster because it is very lucrative. 15. Would you like to have a different job? SN: Sure. But the lack of education and legal documents to live here limits my chances of getting a different job. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking?

SN: No, I don’t. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? SN: That they should follow their heart and their dreams. Nobody should lecture them on what to do for themselves because they are the only ones who know what they are experiencing in their lives in Nigeria. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? SN: It was fun answering your questions.

Transcription INT8. “HD”

1. What is your Gender? HD: I am female. 2. What is your Age? HD: I am 27 years. 3. What is your Marital status? HD: I am single. 4. What is your level of Education? HD: Primary education. 5. What is your Citizenship? HD: Nigerian. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? HD: I am from Esan in Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? HD: My madam brought me here. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? HD: I have been living here for almost 4 years now. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? HD: Hair plaiting is the job that I was doing in Nigeria before coming to Italy. The income that I made from hair plaiting in Nigeria was so little to take care of me, my 4 siblings, and my old sick parents. I am the first child of my family. As the first child, I had to work hard in order to sponsor my younger ones at school because my parents had no money. The responsibility was so

59 much for me and the money that I was making from hair plaiting couldn’t take all of all my responsibilities. Therefore, I had to look for means to travel to Italy with the hope of getting Euro and assisting my younger siblings with their needs and their education. I had this responsibility to take care of my siblings as the first child of the family since my parents couldn’t. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? HD: No, I was not aware that I was coming to Italy to do sex work. My madam deceived me that she was bringing me to Italy to continue the hair plaiting job that I was doing in Nigeria. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? HD: I did not decide to become a sex worker. My madam said that I must do this job and pay her the sum of 60.000 Euro that she spent in bringing me to Italy. I was not even aware in Nigeria that this was the kind of job that I was coming here to do, and I was not also aware that my madam would ask me to pay her this huge sum of money for bringing me to Italy. She tricked me to come here. 12. How do you find this country? HD: To begin with, the country is better because it is more stable in terms of peace and security than Nigeria. On the other hand, people are not so friendly with one another as in Nigeria. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? HD: Obviously. 13a. If so. to whom and why? HD: I give all the money that I make from this work to my madam for bringing me here. I will only stop giving her money once I manage to pay the 60,000 Euro that she is requesting from me. I have not been able to send money to my family or to take care of the needs of my younger siblings as I would have loved to because all the money that I make goes to my madam. 14. Do you like your Job? HD: Hell NO! This is the worst job that I can ever like. The job is horrible, sometimes you are forced to sleep with men who are violent and who smell filthy all because of money. 14a. If not, why can’t you quit? HD: I cannot quit because am scared of my madam. She has threatened to kill me several times if I fail to pay back her money that she spent in bringing me to Italy. 15. Would you like to have a different job?

HD: Yes. I would love to continue with my hair plaiting job here. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? HD: Obviously, because it is not my choice to do this sex work. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? HD: That they should only come Italy if they are admitted into the university. Otherwise, they should not come here because the challenges in this country are so many. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? HD: I hope this your study will enlighten many young women in Nigeria.

Transcription INT9. “CH”

1. What is your Gender? CH: Female. 2. What is your Age? CH: I’m 30. 3. What is your Marital status? CH: Divorce. 4. What is your level of Education? CH: Primary education. 5. What is your Citizenship? CH: I am Nigerian. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? CH: Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? CH: I came in through Libya. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? CH: One year. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? CH: My main reason for coming here is to make money faster and to get rich faster. Before coming to Italy, I used to own a fast food restaurant in Edo state, Nigeria. I owned this restaurant for 5 years, but unfortunately, I was unable to become a rich lady in Nigeria like I wanted.

Through the help of friends in Italy, I got this connection to travel to Italy and I was so happy to leave Nigeria because I knew that I would earn better here and get rich faster because the Italian currency is stronger compared to the Nigerian Naira 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? CH: Yes, yes. My sponsor lectured me about this business. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? CH: Yes, I did. 12. How do you find this country? CH: This place is not so lively or funky like in Nigeria. But there is a chance of becoming a millionaire in Nigeria faster if you are able to work hard here. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? CH: Yes, I do. 13a. If so. to whom and why? CH: I have a sponsor who assisted me to get into Italy. Therefore, I give a certain percentage of the money that I make from this job to the sponsor. Without him, I wouldn’t be here today. 14. Do you like your Job? CH: Yes, I do. But, sometimes I don’t really like the job because it makes me feel unclean. However, I just have to manage the job because this is all that I have got. 14a. If not, why can’t you quit? Oh no, I can’t quit this job because this is all that I’ve got in this country. I won’t be able to survive in this country if I quit this job. I really don’t intend to quit now. I will only quit when I have make enough money to return to Nigeria as a millionaire. 15. Would you like to have a different job? CH: Of course, I wish I could. But, it’s nearly impossible because I am not living in this country legally and language is also an obstacle. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? CH: No, I don’t. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? CH: Mmmm! I really don’t have any advice to give them. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add?

CH: No, I don’t have anything else to add. Transcription INT10. “SD”

1. What is your Gender? SD: I am Female. 2. What is your Age? SD: I am 19 years old. 3. What is your Marital status? SD: I am single. 4. What is your level of Education? SD: Secondary education. 5. What is your Citizenship? SD: Nigerian. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? SD: I am from Benin, Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? SD: My long-time schoolmate that we attended secondary school together connected me to someone who assisted me to come here. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? SD: I’ve been here for 6 months. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? SD: I could not find a job in Nigeria after completing my secondary school education. I wrote a lot of CVs and send to different companies and businesses in Nigeria hoping to get a job. But, I was never contacted for a job interview. My frustration due to unemployment motivated me to look for means to travel out of Nigeria. And today I am here in Italy. I also moved to Italy because I wanted to be together with my two sisters who were already living in Italy. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? SD: No, when I was leaving Nigeria, I didn’t know that I was coming here for sex work. However, it really didn’t matter to me what I would be working with here. I just wanted to come here and have a job that would be giving me money.

11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? SD: No, I didn’t choose to do this particular job. This job was given to me by the people that brought me to Italy. 12. How do you find this country? SD: I don’t really like this country. It’s not easy for me to communicate with Italians since I don’t understand their language. Many Italians too don’t understand me. Most times, we use signs to communicate with each other. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? SD: Yeah. 13a. If so. to whom and why? SD: To the people who brought me to this me to this country. They said I have to pay 55, 000 Euro to them for bringing me here. When I work, they collect 90 percent of the money that I make. The remaining 10 percent stays with me for my food. 14. Do you like your Job? SD: I don’t. You know this sex work is a sin in the eyes of God and I was a strong Christian in Nigeria. 14a. If not, why can’t you quit? SD: I wish I could quit just like that, but it’s not as easy as you think. The situation is so complicated, and it involves voodoo with the people that brought me to Italy. I can only think of quitting after repaying them. 15. Would you like to have a different job? SD: Yeah, I prefer to have another job than this one, even if it’s a cleaning job. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? SD. Yes. I am being forced to do this job against my will by those that brought me here. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? SD: I will like to advise them not to come here because the ideas that we have about Europe in our heads in Nigeria isn’t true. It is only when you come here that you realize that life here is hard. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? SD: Life isn’t so easy here. Yeah, that’s true.

Transcription INT11. “GZ”

1. What is your Gender? GZ: Female. 2. What is your Age? GZ: I’m 21 years. 3. What is your Marital status? GZ: I’m single. 4. What is your level of Education? GZ: Primary level. 5. What is your Citizenship? GZ: Nigerian. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? GZ: Benin City, Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? GZ: My mother’s younger sister brought me here. I arrived Italy with a boat from Libya. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? GZ: 2 years approximately. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? GZ: My main reason for leaving Nigeria to Italy was to join my aunt who was living in Milan. She was the person who brought me here to live with her after I lost my parents. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? GZ: No, I wasn’t aware that I was coming here to do sex work. It was after I arrived here that my aunt told me that this is the job that I must do to survive. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? GZ: No, I didn’t choose to be a sex worker. I am being forced into this by my aunt who brought me here. 12. How do you find this country? GZ: I dislike the winter. The cold during winter in this country can kill someone.

13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? GZ: Yes, I do. 13a. If so. to whom and why? GZ: To my aunt. She said the amount that I must pay her back for bringing me to Italy is 48,000 Euro. Right now, she collects 85% of all the money that I make from this job and the remaining 15% is for my food, body cream, and the makeup that I must apply on my face to attract men. 14. Do you like your Job? GZ: No, definitely I can’t like this kind of work. I just wish I was married, so my body would be for my husband alone. 14a. If not, why can’t you quit? GZ: I will quit someday. I cannot quit now because if I do my aunt will kill me. 15. Would you like to have a different job? GZ: Yes. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? GZ: I really don’t know. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? GZ: That they shouldn’t come here. They should stay put in Nigeria and change Nigeria for the better. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? GZ: No, there is nothing else to add.

Transcription INT12. “HE”

1. What is your Gender? HE: I am Female. 2. What is your Age? HE: I am 29 years. 3. What is your Marital status? HE: I am a single. 4. What is your level of Education? HE: I attended University in Nigeria.

Really? HE: Yes, I attended University of Benin in Benin City, Nigeria. 5. What is your Citizenship? HE: Nigerian. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from? HE: Esan, Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? HE: The boyfriend of one of my classmates who also happen to be my friend gave me connection to one Nigeria man living in Napoli and the man helped me to come here. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? HE: I’ve been here for 4 years. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? HE: I decided to leave Nigeria to Italy because I wanted to make a good life for myself and my family. Life in Nigeria was so difficult for me when I was in the university and even when I left the university because I am not from a wealthy family. After leaving the University of Benin. I was unable to find a good job in Nigeria. The only job that I was able to secure after going to the university in Nigeria was to work as a waitress in a bar in Lagos. The salary was so bad. I was paid a meager 8000 Naira salary per month. The salary could not even take care of my rent alone in Lagos because rents are very expensive in Lagos. I could barely feed or clothe myself from this meager salary. That situation forced me to leave Nigeria to Italy because I wanted to increase my income and improve my living condition. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? HE: Yes. The Nigerian man in Napoli who brought me to Italy informed me that this was the business that I was coming here to do. I didn’t have a problem with it because I have been doing this work since when I was studying in the University of Benin. You know, studying in university in Nigeria requires a lot of money and my parents didn’t have this money to give me. So, I had to sell my body for money in order to take care of my needs in school. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? HE: Yes. 12. How do you find this country?

HE: Much better than Nigeria because I am earning higher than when I was in Nigeria. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? HE: No, I don’t give money from my work to anyone. I only gave the man who brought me here money to smuggled me to Italy. The money that I make from this job is for myself. 14. Do you like your Job? HE: Well, I am already used to this job from Nigeria like I told you. So, I have no problem with it. 15. Would you like to have a different job? HE: Yes, only if it pays well. I don’t want to have a job like the one in Nigeria that my salary was just 8000 Naira. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? HE: From my own point of view, I would say No. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? HE: I really don’t have any advice for these women. My only advice is for the Nigerian government to do more to provide well-paid jobs to its citizens. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? HE: No.

Transcription INT13. “RO”

1. What is your Gender? RO: Female. 2. What is your Age? RO: 20 years old. 3. What is your Marital status? RO: Single. 4. What is your level of Education? RO: Primary education. 5. What is your Citizenship? RO: Nigerian. 6. What part of Nigeria do you come from?

RO: Benin, Edo State. 7. How did you come to Italy? RO: My Madam brought me here. She gave me forged travel documents for someone who look like me and I used the documents to travel from Lagos to Milan undetected by the immigration authorities. That was how I came here. 8. How long have you been living in Italy? RO: 15 months. 9. Why did you leave Nigeria to Italy? RO: I left Nigeria to Italy because I was desperate to be like two of my friends who came to Italy and got married to rich Italian husbands and obtained Italian nationality. I was motivated to come here after seeing them got married to rich Italians and obtained Italian passports. I used to envy my friends when I was in Nigeria. I wanted to be like them, I wanted to get married to a rich white man that will solve all my financial problems and that of my family members. So, I am here to search for my own rich Italian husband. 10. Before leaving Nigeria, were you fully aware that you were coming to work here as a sex worker? RO: No, I didn’t know that I was coming here to do this job. My madam deceived me that she has found one rich Italian husband for me here in Italy and that she was bringing me here to get married to the man. But when I arrived here, I discovered that she was lying to me. She had no Italian husband for me. Instead, she told me that I have to do this job and while doing this job, I will meet an Italian man who will get married to me. My two friends who are married to Italians told me that they also met their husbands from this sex work. 11. Did you decide out of your own free will to work as a sex worker in Italy? RO: No, I didn’t decide to come to this country to become a sex worker. I only wanted to come here and get married to a rich white Italian man. My madam who brought me here is the person forcing me to do this job against my own will. 12. How do you find this country? RO: The country is a bit far from what I was expecting. 13. Do you have to give part or all of the money you make from sex work to anyone? RO: Yes. 13a. If so, to whom and why?

RO: The largest share of the money that I make from this job goes to my madam. She is the person that brought me to this country. Before coming here, I had an agreement together with her and my parents that I would refund all the money that she spent for my travel cost to Italy. So, she collects the major share of the money that I make as part of the debt I owe her. Do you know how much you are supposed to pay your aunt for bringing you to Italy? RO: Yes, she said the total amount is 45,000 Euro. That’s a lot of money. RO: Yes, it is. You know, some girls are lucky to find rich Italian men who assist them to pay back their debts to their sponsor. The men often get married to these girls after assisting them to repay the debt. I am hoping that God would send my own rich husband, who will help me to repay my debt to my madam. 14. Do you like your Job? RO: No, I don’t. This work lowers my self-esteem. 14a. If not, why can’t you quit? RO: My madam has threatened to kill me if I try to quit and if I informed my parents in Nigeria that this is the kind of work that I am doing in Italy. 15. Would you like to have a different job? RO: Yes, I would like to do something different that would give me a new life in this country. 16. Do you see yourself as a victim of human trafficking? RO: Despite your definition of what human trafficking means, I really can’t figure out if I am a victim or not. 17. What advice would you give to young women in Nigeria who wants to travel to Italy? RO: The only word of advice that I would give them is that they should strive hard to achieve success in Nigeria, rather than coming here. 18. Is there anything else you would like to add? RO: I feel relieved after sharing my pain and experiences with you guys.

8.3 Image 1: Map of Nigeria